I've been lately possessed to get my hands on a Stryper album or two, and I don't know why. Maybe I'm just fascinated by the idea that a hair band composed of guys in bumblebee suits singing about how much they love Jesus could actually be fun to listen to, or...maybe they're just fun to listen to.

In terms of new music I DO have, Primitive and Deadly, the new album by Earth, is amazing and you should all listen to it.

Benvolio wrote:I've been meaning to pick up a few more Melvins albums... which ones would you recommend Stupidbunny?

I only have Gluey Porch Treatments through to Stoner Witch, all of which are good in their own way. Bullhead and Houdini I think are great starters, so it's good that those appear to be the ones you have. Lysol (see if you can track down a copy that actually says that!) is weird, but pretty cool...the first half is very droney and the gives to variants of Melvinsey freaky weirness. Prick is surprisingly funny in parts, or maybe I'm just easily amused. More objectively it's a totally ridiculous album and it's clear they're not kidding when they said it was a joke.

Have you listened to anything by Boris at all before? They're rapidly becoming one of my favorites and if you like Melvins you may like Boris too.

I got all of these at various points spanning a long time ago but I love Earth so damn much I'm gonna mention them all now, anyway.

Earth:A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra-Capsular Extraction: Strange but compelling, really claustrophobic and thunderyEarth 2 (Special Low Frequency Version): Drone metal at its very droniest. It's one of my favorite listens now, it's bizarrely interesting to listen to and somehow manages to be both ominous and soothing.Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions: Weird music here, a lot of the songs (mostly the shorter ones) sound like extremely deconstructed stoner metal songs or something. HEX; or Printing in the Infernal Method: The band changed their sound here (after a reunion) and it works just as well. Much clearer, more ambient and eerie than it is droney.

Also on somewhat of an early 70s binge... some really high quality stuff, notably the eponymous debut album of Roxy Music - a true masterpiece of solid rock music, projected upon a canvas of the bizarre and eclectic. Also, the debut album by J.J. Cale, 'Naturally', which is one of the most atmospheric records I have ever heard. You need to sit alone, preferably after midnight, with a whiskey or beer as your taste will dictate, turn that dimmer right down, and immerse yourself in the beautiful songs. Also a few oft-overlooked Dylan records: "New Morning" and "Planet Waves" - these albums could warrant pages upon pages of discussion but they shall not receive that this evening. Finally, Van Morrison's Moondance - another triumph of production, musicianship, and songwriting.

That '69-'75 era is by no means the only era to have produced wonderful popular music, but surely it was the least pretentious time in rock history, when music was played for the sake of the music itself, and everything else - sex, drugs, ego, you name it, was a secondary priority. When these things took hold and grabbed the limelight, the art began to suffer and a long downward spiral began, leading ultimately to the drivel of today - Minaj and her ilk.